Rotary engine.



PATENTED JAN. 14, 1908. F. A. CLEVELAND.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 26, 1906.

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P. A. CLEVELAND. ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED 0012s, 1906.

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No. 876,691. -PATENTED JAN.14, 1908. F. A. CLEVELAND.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED 00126. 1908.

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-PATENTED JAN. 14, 1908.

F. A. CLEVELAND. ROTARY ENGINE.

AlFPLIOATION FILED 001'. 26, 1906.

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PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK A. CLEVELAND, OF NEW YORK, N: Y.

ROTARY ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

, Patented Jan. 14, 1908.

Application filed October 26. 1906- Serial No. 340.650.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK A. CLEVE LAND, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the city of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Engines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to rotary engines, the object being to provide a construction for an engine of this type in which the steam shall be used. in the most elficient manner to produce a rotary movement of the pistons.

In carrying out my invention I prefer to use intersecting cylindrical chambers in which two cooperating rotary cylinder cores are positioned. These rotary cylinder cores are each provided with a projection or wing against which the steam operates to move the same in opposite directions and, consequently, to impart a rotary movement to their respective cylinder cores. A recess is provided in each of the aforesaid cylinder cores, these recesses being of such shape, and by proper mechanism the cylinder cores are caused so to operate in relation to each other, that the projections from each cylinder core may pass through the recess in the opposite cylinder core. At other points in the circle of rotation the outer ends of the projections or wings are in contact with the surface of the cylindrical chambers, thus closed joints are formed and at the same time a continuous rotation of the cylinder cores and projections or wings is permitted.

The two cylindrical chambers in which the cylinder cores are positioned intersect, the plane of intersection being tangent to both cylinder cores at the point of contact, and when the projections from both cylinder cores are in contact with the walls of their respective cylindrical chambers the walls of the cylindrical chambers, together with the projections from the cylinder cores and the surface of the cylinder cores form an inclosure on either side of the projections. This inclosure or compartment within the cylindrical chamber being thus norrowly confined, both the impact and the expansive force of the steam may be utilized therein to the best advantage without waste as will be hereafter more fully explained.

Suitable valves are provided to control the admission and exhaust of the steam to the inclosure or compartment within the cylindrical chambers on either side of the piston, thus providing for the reversal of the engine. One of the objects and features of my invention as illustrated in the construction herein shown and described is in the utilization of the steam in two or more successive sets of intersecting cylindrical chambers and controlling valves by means of which the steam is admitted to the inclosure or compartment within the cylindrical chambers of the first set and by reason of the impact and flow of the same, inclosed cylindrical cores are caused to rotate until the inlet valve closes and an exhaust valve opens allowing this steam to flow from the first inclosure to a steam chest where the steam is stored for use in an inclosure within the second set of cylindrical chambers in which it operates expansively to'eause a rotation of the cylindrical coreslocated therein. If desired, onlya part of the expansive force of the steam may be used in this second inclosure, the balance of the expansive force being utilized to operate a third set of cylinder cores in a similar manner. This enables me to make use of the well known principles of operation of the compound engine and at the same time utilize the impact and flow of the steam, thus obtaining the most efficient results possible with engines of this type.

By placing the several sets of cylindrical chambers and cores end to end on common shafts and arranging the valves controlling the inlet and outlet of the steam to the several cylinders in such a manner that the steam is operating on opposite sides of the shaft in different inclosures I obtain a balancing of the side thrust and consequently produce an even and smooth rotation, resulting in a great saving in losses due to friction and also in wear upon the bearings. As the steam operates in different points of the circle of rotation in the several sets of cylinders it will be evident that one of the cylinders will always be in a position to operate when the steam is admitted and, consequently, dead centers are avoided and the engine may be started from any position.

'Other objects will. be in'part obvious and will in part appear hereinafter in connection with the description of the engine illustrated in the accompanying drawings as one embodiment of my invention.

Like parts in the several views have been given similar reference numbers.

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Figure 1 is an end view of an engine embodying my invention, showing the valve operating member. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a crosssectional end view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an end view in outline showing the position of the cylinder cores and valves as the steam is about to be admitted to the steam compartment, one half of the cylinder only being shown. Fig. 5 is an end view in outline showing the position of the cylinder cores and valves as the steam is about to be admitted to the steam co1npartment to produce a rotation in the reverse direction, one half of the cylinder only being shown.

- A base or support is shown at 1 upon which is mounted. a casing 2 embodying end plates 2 and. division plates 2. In this casing I have provided two cylindrical chambers, in-

dicated at 3 and 4, in which are mounted a 7 pair of cooperating cylinder cores 5 and 6. Each core is secured to a shaft which is provided with suitable bearings. Each of these cores has a projection or wing, indicated at 7 and 8, secured to the periphery thereof and extending longitudinally V thereon. projections or wings may be secured to their respective cylinder cores by means of a dovetail fastening and key as shown, or by any other suitable means.

A recess is provided in each of the cylinder cores of such a form as to permit the projection or wing from the opposite core to pass therethrough, thus permitting a complete rotation of the cylinder cores and attached projections.

The cylinder cores are preferably of the same size and mounted so that the surfaces thereof are in contact and form a steam tight joint at all points in the rotation thereof except at the points where the projections or wings are passing through the intersection of the cylindrical chambers, ,as de scribed below, and the respective recesses in the opposite core. The cylindrical chambers 3 and 4 are also preferably of the same size and are so arranged as to intersect in a plane tangent to both cylinder cores at their point of contact and the projections or wings from. the cylinder cores areo'f such a length as to make contact and form asteam tight joint with the walls of their respective cylindrical chambers.

W'hen the cylinders are in the position shown in Figs. 4 and 5 it will be seen that the projections and the cylinder cores form with. the wall of the cylindrical chamber an inclosure which is narrowly confined. If now the steam be admitted to this inclosure it will operate directly upon the cylinder cores and projections and cause the same to rotate. As a similar inclosure is formed on either side of the projections or wings the di- These rection of rotation may be determined by admitting the steam to the inclosure on one side or the other, as is indicated in Figs. 4 and 5, and it will be seen that by arranging the inlet valve so that the same will remain open through a certain portion of the rotation of the cylinder core the impact and flow of the steam may be utilized or, by a suitable arrangement of the valves, the expansive force of the steam may be utilized to cause a rotation of the cylinder cores. Both arrange ments above indicated may be utilized at the same time in the same engine if desired by placing a number of sets of cylinders end to end, as shown in Fig. 2.

Inlet valves of the rotary type are shown at 9 and 1.0 and exhaust valves at 11 and 12. The inlet valves 9 and communicate with steam chests 13 and 14 respectively to which the steam is supplied from the controlling valve 15, shown in Fig. 1, through the connecting pipes 1.6 or 17 according to which way the controlling valve is thrown by the operating lever 18.

The inlet and exhaust valves may be-operated through a train of gears as shown in Fig. 1, the valves being positioned on their respective shafts so as to open and close at the proper points in the rotation of the cylinder cores. The valve operating mechanism is shown in Fig. 1 and in this arrangement the lower cylinder core or cores'are attached to a shaft 21. This shaft carries a gear 22 which meshes on either side with intermediate gears 23 and 27 which in turn operate gears 24 and 28 which are twice the size of the driving gear 22 and, consequently,

the same engine if desired, as indicated in Fig. 2.

Assuming now that the main valve 15 has been moved to the position shown in Fig. 1 and the cylinder cores of one set are in the position shown in Fig. 4 the entering steam will pass from the valve 15 through the connecting pipe 16 and the passages 19 and 20 in base 1 to the steam chest 13, which may extend the entire length of the engine cylinders if more than one set is used. From the steam chest 13 the steam will pass through the inlet valve 9, which is just beginning to open, into the inclosure formed by the cylinder cores and their projections or wings and the wall of the cylindrical chambers. The steam will now operate upon both of the projections or wings 7 and 8 and cause the cylinder cores 5 and 6 to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 4.

The exhaust valves 11 and 12 are each provided with two openings on opposite sides thereof and will begin to open just before one revolution of the cylinder cores has been completed, which will be when the projection 7 on the lower cylinder core 6 reaches the position indicated in Fig. 5. This is at the point of intersection of the walls of the cylindrical chambers and it will be noted that when the inlet valves begin to open as above described the projection 8 on the upper cylinder core 5 has reached a corresponding position at the intersection of the walls of the cylindrical chambers on the opposite side, as indicated in Fig. 4. It is thus seen that with this arrangement the inclosure into which the steam is admitted is narrowly limited at the start and that the entire effective surface of the cylinder wall is utilized,

thus producing the most efficient results possible in engines of this type.

For operating the engine in a reverse direction the lever 18, shown in Fig. 1, is thrown to its extreme position on the opposite side, thus rotating the valve 15 so as to admit the steam to the connecting pipe 17 and through the passages 31 and 32 to the steam chestl l.

The inlet valve 10 is operated from the shaft 21 by means of the gears 22, 27, 28, 29 and 30 and the valves operate in the same manner as the corresponding valves on the opposite side of the engine just described, thus allowing the steam to enter the inclosure formed on the opposite side of the projections and rotate the cylinder cores in the opposite direction, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 5.

WVhile the steam is being admitted as above described from the steam chest 13 through the inlet valve 9 the inlet valve 10 on the opposite side is being rotated and will open and allow the air on this side of the cylinder cores and projections to escape into the steam chest 14, in which there is no steam as the valve 15 is thrown so as to cut off the supply from this side which is used only for reversing. The inlet valve 9 operates in the same manner when the engine is reversed and it is thus seen that any back pressure which might be caused by the compression of the air in a small space on the opposite side of the cylinder from which the steam is operating is avoided thus increasing the efficiency of the engine.

Both exhaust valves 11 and 12 may be used as above described to allow the steam to escape either to the outside or to an intermediate chamber from which it maybe conducted to another set of cylinders, as may be desired.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments 'of my invention designed without departing from the scope thereof, I intend that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative merely of an operative embodiment of my invention and not in a limiting sense.

I/Vhat I claim is:

1. In a rotary engine having a series of pairs of cooperating cylinder cores therein, division plates between said pairs of cores, said casing being formed with inlet and outlet valve chambers, steam chests formed in said casing having communication withsaid inlet valve chambers, and a rotary valve in each of said valve chambers, the valves of the outlet valve chambers extending on opposite sides of the division plates and each being formed with a pair of diametrically opposed openings which lead from the periphery thereof inwardly to a point adjacent the centers of said valves.

2. In a rotary engine, a base, a casing thereon, said casing having chambers with pairs of cooperating cylinder cores therein, a pair of steam chests formed in the casing for each pair of cores arranged one on each side of said cores, passages extending longitudinally through the base on each side thereof, vertical passages leading from said longitudinal passages into said chests, a third passage leading from each chest to said cores, a rotary valve in said third passage, fourth passages leading into said chambers, and rotary valves in said fourth passages.

3. In a rotary engine, a casing having a series of separated chambers therein, a pair of cooperating cylinder cores in each chamber, a steam chest on each side of each chamber, a longitudinal steam passage for each steam chest, a vertical passage connecting each chest with its respective longitudinal passage, a common inlet pipe having two branches one leading to one of said longitudinal passages and the other to the other longitudinal passage, a valve in said pipe and means to rotate said valve.

Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of New York this 22d day of Oct. A. D. 1906.

FREDERICK A. CLEVELAND.

Witnesses LEWIS J. DOOLITTLE, WM. R. SorIonNBoRN. 

